Keri Russell is set to star in the new series as a career Foreign Service officer appointed the U.S. ambassador to London.
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“It’s not like being in any other post. You’re not going to know every single thing about the relationship every moment,” said David T. Johnson, a former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in London.

It may be funny to talk of the many parties the U.S. ambassador in London throws, but the envoy’s “convening power” is genuinely a big deal, diplomats say. People want to get invited to the U.S. Embassy in London, and there’s a tremendous amount of information that can be picked up during the gatherings.

Barbara Stephenson, who, like Lukens and Johnson, also held the No. 2 spot at the embassy in London, said it was important for the cast and crew of “The Diplomat” to get the little things right, even if the show as a whole is unrealistic about the pace and intensity of diplomacy.

The little things could include how a huge portion of American diplomats have advanced degrees or how they refer to the secretary of State as “S.” “The ambassador is just called ambassador, and people honestly do rise when she walks in the room. That’s just what happens,” Stephenson said.

The London-based U.S. diplomat said the show’s representatives appeared well-versed and respectful about the realities facing America’s Foreign Service officers.

Still, they also have to make a compelling drama in an ultra-competitive media environment.

“I’m sort of mixed on these things, because I’m not sure how useful they are,” the diplomat said of such shows. “They give the broader public this idea that government and national security and these decisions kind of all happen in these neat, 52-minute packages. They take away the idea that it’s complicated, it’s not easy.”